


Living for the Future

by Tarlan



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic Park III (2001), Primeval: New World
Genre: Action/Adventure, Community: smallfandombang, Dinosaurs, M/M, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-15 04:28:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: An alert gives Evan fresh hope for Howard after five long months, but he'll need help from Alan Grant and Billy Brennan if he is to rescue Howard before he is killed by the creatures inhabiting InGen's dinosaur islands.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for: **smallfandombang** Round 6
> 
> With many thanks to my friend, Paula, who upon hearing I couldn't request art as I hadn't met the Art deadline, decided to draw something for me :)

Dylan had called Howard 'crazy eyes' because he'd had that manic edge of someone who had spent too long alone surviving on PowerBars, caffeinated drinks, and protein shakes; a junk food survivalist. When Evan got back to his office after the unintentional meeting with Howard he had looked up Howard's personal history, and he discovered Howard had lost his wife to ovarian cancer only the day before Brooke was killed by an Albertosaurus. Both of them devastated by their personal loss five years earlier, but at least Evan had a friend to pull him through the darkest days whereas Howard seemed so alone; isolated from the rest of the world, losing himself in his work and becoming a social recluse.

Evan looked in the mirror and shuddered. 

"That could have been me," he murmured softly.

After Brooke's death he had devoted everything he had into research on the anomaly that had brought the Albertosaurus into his world, and if not for Ange he might have been consumed by that quest. Ange had been his lifeline to humanity, and she had kept him open enough to let others in: Toby, Dylan, and Mac, but it was obvious to Evan that Howard had not had anyone to pull him back from the brink of madness.

He thought back to those thirty minutes spent with Howard earlier that day, which included five minutes of anger where Howard laid down the facts. He had spent twenty months working towards a solution for photonic circuitry and was just days away from manufacturing trials only to have Evan snap up the patent and corner the market in photonics after what Howard called ' _no sweat equity_ '. Three months of research and straight into production without a single trial, as if he had known the solution beforehand.

Evan had... sort of.

He had woken up one morning just under three months into his research into photonics, gone into the small kitchen of the apartment he shared with Brooke, and found a note in his own handwriting stuck to the refrigerator: _Coat the wires in gold_. He'd never been prone to sleepwalking but he had sometimes lost track of time when immersed in research, and he had sometimes left himself random sticker notes like a brain dump onto tiny squares of yellow paper. He coated the nanowires in gold and it worked. He didn't have to do any trials, and Ange had grabbed the patent and set up the deals before the week was out. He was rich, and for the first time Brooke stopped pushing at him to find a ' _real job_ '. He registered Cross Photonics and two weeks later, after the dust had settled over the court case brought by Howard's attorney, together he and Brooke went to look around for the perfect site for his new company.

Brooke died that day.

Destiny. Fate. Cause and effect. The space-time anomalies threw all the possibilities up into the air, especially if Feynman was right when he postulated his multiple histories interpretation, that there could be many possible past histories of a given event existing in branching timelines or alternate universes. A little like the theory of the Butterfly Effect except where one small change in the past could create a branching timeline. No one would be any the wiser unless they were outside of the present time stream when the change was made in the past. Yet, if that was the case then every time an anomaly opened the future was altered depending on what happened next. Every animal incursion into the present had greater implications, whether it lived or died, and then there was the damage caused by human incursions into the past; the effect of a single crushed butterfly rippling forward in time forever.

Evan had seen Howard several times across a courtroom after Howard petitioned for a patent infringement, unable to accept he had found the solution so easily and accusing him of stealing his work. Five years later it seemed Howard was still trying to prove he had got there first, believing Evan had committed theft of intellectual property. Perhaps Howard believed one of his assistants had sold the idea to Evan, which would explain why he had taken to working alone, trusting no one if his reaction to Evan's single glance towards a whiteboard in his office was any indication.

So alone.

Evan hadn't stolen or bought the idea, and yet he still felt a twinge of guilt. It hadn't occurred to him until after Howard's rant that his own destiny had turned on a yellow post-it note stuck on his refrigerator. If it hadn't been there then Howard would have pioneered photonic circuitry and Evan might still be chasing an elusive breakthrough of his own, with Brooke alive and whole by his side. He snorted in self-derision. More likely, he would be working in some lowly research position, fighting to provide enough income to support Brooke and the family she had wanted. At least he needed to believe they would still be together but the truth was they'd been going through a rough patch right up until he gained that important patent and the money that came flooding in with it. She hadn't liked him spending hours in research, often not bothering to come home if an idea had taken hold of him. They had argued a lot during those final months and she had left him twice to stay with her mother, but he had begged her to come back each time, promising things would get better.

He had loved her so much, but when he had tried to explain what he was doing she hadn't understood. The math and physics was totally beyond her comprehension, though she could likely say the same about his lack of understanding of Iambic pentameters.

Those thirty minutes with Howard, brain storming ideas, had been more enlightening than the preceding five years spent puzzling alone; feeding off each others brilliance and making a discovery that had eluded him for months.

For the first time he had someone to bounce ideas off, someone who understood the math and physics of harmonics and photonics without needing lengthy explanations.

Even months later, every time Evan looked at the handheld anomaly detector he could not help but think of Howard. In just a matter of minutes Howard had cobbled together a resonator to determine the harmonic decay ratio, giving him an accurate means of measuring how long an anomaly would stay open. Howard had taken the original with him when he snatched the detector from Evan's hand and stepped backwards through the anomaly. His final countdown had proved it worked, and it hadn't taken Evan long to build his own resonator into the remaining handheld now he knew what was needed. Yet every time he watched the countdown to an anomaly closing all he could think of was Howard and how his eyes had lost the dullness of grief and the glitter of madness, instead filled with awe and excitement, with new possibilities and, perhaps, even a little hope.

Those eyes and that last smile on Howard's face haunted his dreams as much as the loss of Brooke.

As far as Evan was aware nothing had changed after Howard disappeared; the yellow post-it note, Brooke's death, the fight over the patent in court, Howard stepping back into the past. It was likely he had died back in the late Cretaceous over 66 million years ago causing barely a ripple in time, just as Dylan believed. Considering Evan had seen him as nothing more than a professional rival until they collaborated for those too few minutes, he found he was mourning Howard's death almost as hard as Brooke's. Perhaps more, and not just for the loss of true genius and the breakthroughs that might now take decades to discover, or for a brilliance that could have helped him solve the mystery of the anomalies.

They could have been colleagues instead of professional rivals. They could have been friends.

Evan wrote an app that would monitor for a signal coming from the missing anomaly detector - the one Howard had snatched from his hand. It had been created with an inbuilt power source that could last hundreds of years, so it would be long dead if it was still in the Cretaceous. It was a long shot but one day Howard might walk through an anomaly and Evan would find a little closure.

Five months after Howard's loss Evan found himself on the other side of an anomaly staring at dozens, perhaps hundreds of anomalies scattered all around him. The temptation to save Brooke had been strong but Connor Temple had explained how dangerous it would be to change anything. It broke his heart but he knew he had to let the past play out as it had before. He had to let Brooke go even though there were noticeable differences in the timeline already. The Mac Rendell frozen in ice was wearing a different uniform to the one his Mac was wearing today, so there would not be anyone to save him this time around. Evan realized he could be dying at this very moment, erased from that timeline by the same Albertosaurus that had killed Brooke, and yet he was still alive right here and now.

A thought struck him. If he had died six years ago then Howard might still be alive today, and Evan would have another chance to make it right between them. He felt a bright hope flare inside him, wondering if Temple was right and the changes did not affect anyone currently outside of their timeline. Perhaps he could go back and pull Howard out of his downward spiral, give them both a reason to live. Yet there was another darker theory. If Evan Cross had died six years earlier then when he stepped back through the anomaly he'd be... What exactly? Alive as a clone of himself? Or maybe his quantum fingerprint would send him to the remains of his body, buried six feet underground? Or would he simply take a step through from this side and never appear on the other side?

Mac had to ask, "If the Mac you put in the freezer is not there... Who's going to save your life?"

"No one."

"So you're just going to vanish?"

"I don't know what's going to happen."

Evan should have kept his thoughts to himself. He should have never turned a stranger into a friend because Mac didn't hesitate now. Before Evan could stop him, he ran back through the anomaly to save the Evan Cross from six years earlier rather than risk Evan disappearing as soon as they stepped back into what had been their present.

Dylan stopped him from following, and moments later the Albertosaurus with the deformed limb came running out of the anomaly that led to his past. As far as Evan was concerned it had fulfilled its destiny by killing Brooke and Mac, and the self-loathing and anger from knowing he had brought all this on them made him turn the gun upon it, firing relentlessly until it too was dead. As it took its final breath Evan realized his grave mistake. The anomalies began to collapse around him even though Toby had told him earlier they still had over forty minutes remaining.

"Something changed," he stated fearfully. Heedless of what might happen to him, they began to run towards the anomaly leading back to their present, leaping through at the last moment even though it would sever them if they were even a fraction too late. 

Evan hit the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a complete stop, entangled with Dylan. Ange and Leeds were waiting for them... and so was Mac, a little older but alive and well.

Seconds later Evan heard a strange tone coming from his handheld anomaly detector and glanced down at it in confusion, eyes widening when he recognized the signal captured by his device.

"Howard."

****

Howard took one step backwards for each of the final seconds, making certain he was on the other side when the anomaly winked out of existence leaving him a lush landscape of rolling hills covered in tall grasses and trees. Behind him he heard a distant bellow and turned to watch the Triceratops join a small herd, marveling at the gracefulness of the massive creatures as they moved together. It didn't bother him that he was the only human on the planet at this time because he'd spent the last five years keeping people at a distance, wanting to be left alone. For a moment he wondered if Evan understood, or if he simply thought him an arrogant fool. Certainly he felt a little foolish for having spent those five years trying to figure out how Evan had managed to steal his work from right under his nose, only to learn he'd been chasing shadows while avoiding the real truth.

Yes, he'd felt envious of Cross being able to load a gun and go hunting for the thing that took his wife when Howard couldn't do the same, except Howard had tried to use a different kind of loaded gun. He was a genius but not in the field of medicine even though he had pioneered some of the research into keyhole laser technology for burning away tumors without resorting to major surgery. Nano-Photonics was the next evolutionary step to creating non-invasive means of destroying cancer cells by converting light into sound waves to blast at the cellular level, leaving healthy cells untouched. He'd worked so hard for twenty months, seen failure after failure as Carol slipped away following weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but it was guilt that eventually brought him to his knees. He hadn't been there for her when she needed him the most, spending the last two weeks of her life caught up in what he could now see was a stupid and childish court battle with Evan Cross over the Photonics breakthrough when he could have been using Evan's discovery to save her.

Instead, Howard had spent five years in denial, blaming Evan rather than himself for not spending those final weeks by her side. It hadn't mattered that she'd understood him all too well, marrying him in spite of his many social failings, and not necessarily out of love. They had both needed and used each other. He had needed someone to hang on his arm at social events, to make him look more in touch with the rest of humanity, and she was a social butterfly, happy to spend his money and live in luxury. He had loved her after a fashion. She was his best friend, and without her he found no reason to break away from his work for ' _proper meals_ ' or entertainment. His social engagements dwindled when she grew sick and they disappeared altogether following her death.

He hadn't missed them, or the so-called friends who drifted away once the money stopped flowing through Carol. He made himself scarce whenever a delivery arrived, while also avoiding any contact with the part-time staff paid to keep the house and grounds in order, and ensure his room was well stocked with protein bars and drinks. He didn't know their names and they knew to disappear if he ever ventured out of his room. For a moment he wondered what would become of the house, then realized no one would even notice he was missing unless Evan said something. The bills and wages were all paid automatically, and the regular earnings from his many patents and investments meant those accounts would remain solvent for as long as the Bank remained standing.

"I could die here," he murmured, "And no one would miss me."

It was a sobering thought, and it reminded him he had to get moving so he could find a safe place to hole up before dusk when most predators hunted. He had no idea how cold it would get at night and he hadn't exactly packed for a boy scout camping trip, just a single bottle of water and a couple of protein bars. All he had on was casual clothes, a light jacket that wasn't made to keep him dry and warm, and sneakers. Not even decent hiking boots.

At this point most people would imagine themselves screwed, and perhaps stepping through so unprepared was a stupid thing to do but what Howard had in his favor was his genius and a renewed desire to live. He also had Evan's anomaly detector with his resonator attachment and the small electronic toolkit he always carried with him. None of that would matter though if he didn't find shelter soon, and barring the sudden appearance of a handy cave, his best chance for surviving his first night in the Late Cretaceous was doing the same as his mammal ancestors and climb a sturdy tree.

He found what seemed like the perfect tree less than a mile from where the anomaly had opened. It took a little effort to climb but once he was safely up high in its branches he began to relax, using a sharp stone he'd spotted on the walk as a tool for breaking some of the leafy branches to use as both a blanket and camouflage. When the sun eventually set Howard was glad he had made the extra effort as the temperature dropped rapidly and though the leaves didn't provide much in the way of warmth, they protected him from the cold night breeze. As the sounds of the waking world around him began to die away, giving way to the creatures inhabiting the night, Howard let his thoughts drift back to his meeting with Evan Cross and the pleasure he'd found working with him as they discussed harmonics and decay rates. Evan had been surprisingly free with any information, talking of magnetic lines, and now he had time to think Howard began to calculate some of the variables to see if he could determine how the anomaly formed as perhaps then he could predict where and when to find another anomaly.

How was the anomaly tethered to each time period?

The spin of the Earth, the movement of the tectonic plates over time, the changes in the Earth's magnetic field due to solar flares, all of this implied the anomaly could re-open in the same place here but not necessarily lead back to the same time or place in the future as the variables would have changed. The chard layer was the point where time and space fractured so there had to be weak spots in the Earth's magnetic field or anomalies would be occurring in their thousands, everywhere, and he doubted any government on the planet could keep that a secret for long. Not even the Chinese. If he could determine what variables created a weak spot then he might be able to duplicate the effects or at the very least make a prediction for where it would occur so he could be ready to move on.

If he was lucky it might only be a difference of a few days, maybe a few months. Equally, it could differ by years or even centuries into the past or future. Regardless, the only way to find out was to locate the next anomaly. The detector had limited range but Howard knew he could extend that with some careful alterations. Tomorrow he would make that his first priority after finding food and water, and improving on his little nest here in the tree. Shivering a little from the cold, Howard pulled a few more leafy branches over him and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come quickly but instead his mind insisted on bringing back memories of Evan Cross.

It had been a long time since he had enjoyed working with someone on the same intellectual level, someone who understood without him having to go through every detail, and able to argue with him and push him harder. He'd felt more alive during that short exchange than in the past five years. Except that was a lie as he'd started to feel his life becoming meaningless long before Carol's death, finding it hard to keep up the pretense of a happily married man when they were little more than acquaintances towards the end. He wasn't stupid. He knew why he had a sham of a marriage with Carol instead of the real thing, afraid to be known as the modern day Alan Turing even though he lived in a country that didn't see homosexuality as an abomination or an abnormality.

In under thirty minutes Evan Cross had hit every button Howard had studiously tried to ignore and deny for his whole adult life. Handsome, intelligent, and not afraid to challenge him both professionally and as a person. Another thirty minutes and Howard would have fallen hopelessly in love with the man; a man who was still grieving the loss of his wife five years earlier. Any newfound respect would have turned to disdain or, worse, pity so the danger of walking through the anomaly with nothing but a small bag and the clothes on his back was nothing in comparison.

New noises filled the air - a distant roar followed by a desperate squeal of a creature cut short as it met a gristly end; Howard shivered.

"I am so fucked," he murmured, pulling the branches and leaves closer for both warmth and camouflage.

Forty-six days passed before he heard the first ping from the anomaly detector. The anomaly was miles away from where it had opened before but by Howard's calculations it was on the same electromagnetic line heading south east of his current position. The resonator attachment gave the decay rate of just under 7 hours. If he managed an average pace of 3 miles an hour he could cover 16 miles with a couple of hours to spare but it would mean taking risks. Yet he couldn't afford to sit around waiting for another anomaly to open closer to his current position as that might not be for months or years... or never. Decision made, Howard packed up his meager possessions along with the food and water he had gathered over the past days, glad he had kept everything ready to grab and run at a moment's notice just in case something happened. He moved out quickly, glancing back only once at the tree that had become his home over the last month, walking heel to toe to keep any sound of his footsteps to a minimum as he moved as swiftly as he dared through the trees.

Eventually he reached an open plain, making reasonable time but aware he needed to take advantage of any opportunity to jog instead of walking just in case he had to stop for any reason. The most direct route to the anomaly was straight across the widest part of the grassland and he debated it for a moment, aware of how vulnerable he would be out in the open with only occasional rocky outcrops for protection. If this was a game trail, and by the sight of the close-cropped grass that was likely, then predators could be hiding just inside the tree line ready to pounce.

"Hell, if I don't make the anomaly then I'm as good as dead anyway," he murmured to himself, aware he was living on borrowed time especially after hearing the barks of Velociraptors too close for comfort the other evening, and seeing them moving fast between the trees in the distance in the early morning.

If they were expanding their hunting ground into his area, looking for easy prey, then he needed to move out now or risk becoming their next meal as he hadn't a hope of outrunning them, and he couldn't hide up in the trees forever. Sooner of later he'd be forced to come down in search of food and water, putting him at a distinct disadvantage.

Setting off at a reasonable jog he snorted softly, aware that all he knew about dinosaurs was from a book, _Dinosaur Detectives_ by Dr. Alan Grant, and most of it was just theory though surprisingly accurate in most respects. Grant has hypothesized dinosaurs moved in herds using the same flocking, evasive maneuvers when evading a predator as modern day herds on the Serengeti. A few weeks earlier while out gathering food, Howard had seen this happen when a herd was attacked by something that looked similar to a T-rex: sharp teeth, powerful back legs and tail, but small front arms. Alan Grant had named this predator from the Late Cretaceous an Albertosaurus. While Howard had watched from the safety of the trees, the Albertosaurus took a blow from one of the prey dinosaurs with a clubbed tail - an Ankylosaurus, he thought it was called - shattering one of its tiny front arms; it had run off roaring in pain.

Howard hoped it had kept on running, and hopefully not in the same direction he was now heading.

The going underfoot wasn't easy, causing him to stumble occasionally but he managed to keep up a good pace, glad he used to spend an hour each day on the treadmill in his personal gym, and had kept up the activity even after arriving here. He'd never run a marathon and was glad he didn't have to do that now, but if he could keep up a good pace then he would reach the anomaly with several hours to spare. Enough time to check out what was on the other side, and come back to the Cretaceous and find a new place of safety before nightfall if it proved a worse option than here. By now the sun was high overhead. Even though he had a head covering made from the reeds he'd found growing by the water's edge and woven together, the exertion beneath the hot sun was making him tired and dehydrated. Ahead was another small rocky outcrop and as it held the possibility of affording him better shade he jogged towards it. As he approached he slowed, more cautious in case anything with sharper teeth and claws had the same idea. It seemed clear though so he dropped down into the meager shade afforded by a slight overhang, pulling out his water and some of the thankfully non-poisonous fruit and berries he had collected and dried in the sun. Glancing at the anomaly detector Howard made a note of how long remained before it disappeared.

Three hours and twenty-four minutes.

The extended anomaly detector put it just beyond another rocky formation on the horizon, about 2 miles distant by his calculations. He had made excellent time up to this point and decided he could afford a ten minute break before he set off again.

Half an hour later he knew he was getting close but he had to slow his pace considerably because in the distance he could see signs of a mixed herd on the trail ahead, possibly attracted to the chard layer or to the electromagnetic pulse from the anomaly. What concerned him more was the greater possibility of coming across a predator trailing the herd, looking for the opportunity of a fresh kill. He moved from one source of cover to the next, tension and excitement increasing when caught the first glint of light reflecting off the chard layer in the distance. He was so close now, perhaps ten minutes away but with over two and half hours to spare according to the resonator. The temptation to run towards the anomaly was strong but he knew he had to be more vigilant, more cautious.

His caution paid off when an Albertosaurus lunged from one side of the narrowed game trail ahead and snapped at the fleeing Hadrosaurs, almost pinning one but it managed to escape at the last moment. The Albertosaurus pivoted with a grace that Howard had not imagined possible considering its size and bulk. It snapped at the Hadrosaur again, sharp teeth grazing but the Hadrosaur was surprising fast when under attack, and that's when Howard noticed the Albertosaurus had a damaged left upper limb. It was the same predator from a few weeks back. Howard wasn't sure how often it had to hunt to sustain itself. Lions often lived for days off a single kill, but he could bet they wouldn't pass up a smaller snack given the opportunity - and he was snack-sized.

Howard knew the T-rex types had a high olfactory ability, able to scent blood from miles away like a vulture, so he guessed it had the scent of fresh blood to follow as the Hadrosaur tried to mingle back into the frightened, now stampeding herd. It raced after the wounded Hadrosaur and Howard knew this might be his only chance to make for the anomaly while it was distracted with bigger prey, but as he ran towards the bright line, the fracture of time and space, he had a terrible thought.

What if the other side was more desolate than here? What if the atmosphere was poisonous? A Hadrosaur appearing through the anomaly from the other side apparently unharmed put one fear to rest plus he had already planned to do the same and come back if the other side was worse than here. Just twenty feet from the anomaly he heard a roar behind him, glancing over his shoulder in horror when he realized the Albertosaurus had lost its larger prey and had spotted a tasty snack instead - him. Seeing no place of safety this side of the anomaly, he pushed himself harder to go faster, legs pumping, heart racing as the flood of adrenaline gave him the extra speed he needed as it closed in on him rapidly. He imagined he could feel its fetid breath on his back as he raced through and dived to one side, almost smacking his head on the edge of a large rock, and crawled behind it as the Albertosaurus came rushing through the anomaly only seconds behind him, heading straight down a grassy slope. 

That was when Howard realized he was surrounded by anomalies, perhaps hundreds of them.

The Albertosaurus carried on through an anomaly at the base of the hill leading to who knew where or when, and Howard was not going to follow it when he had plenty more options. Despite the fresh, clean air and abundance of vegetation and running water, he knew he couldn't stay here. With so many open anomalies there could be any number of creatures from different time periods stalking through the nearby woods so he moved to the anomaly closest to him.

More cautious this time, Howard used his equivalent of a selfie stick to poke his camera phone through, taking a reading with the modified weather app and pulling it back to replay the video recording. The phone casing was hot, too hot for his liking so he tried another anomaly without success. The third was more hopeful, revealing a brick wall to either side, like a dank alleyway. He was about to stop the video and step through when he saw people scurrying across the entrance, perhaps twenty feet away, wearing clothing that belonged centuries before he was born. For a moment Howard faltered but curiosity won out so he stepped through and moved cautiously to where the alley spilled onto a wider street, keeping in the shadows. A notice pinned to a door frame was written in an old form of English but he could read it well enough, and now he looked more closely he could see red crosses on several doors, marking plague victims within. This was the time of the Black Death, Bubonic Plague, and he ran back to the anomaly, stepping through quickly in the hope he hadn't been there long enough to pick up any plague-carrying fleas. If he had any other clothing then he would have burned the ones he was in just in case. Howard decided not to give in to paranoia as he'd not seen a single rat either side of the anomaly.

He tried several more anomalies, slowly working his way along the hill top. The air was toxic in one, bubbling the casing of his cell phone but fortunately he'd pulled it back before it was damaged beyond repair; the next was a desolate landscape with raging storms like nothing he had ever seen in the modern world so it was either a distant past or a terrible future. He crossed through ones that looked safe, hoping he'd see something to give him a clue as to where he was, or rather WHEN but unless he stepped out onto familiar ground or into the center of a big city around his own time then every 'new world' was a gamble. Howard marked the possible anomalies with a rock.

Another hour past and he'd had no luck with the latest anomaly, which seemed to be a lush type of rain forest, though for a moment he thought he had heard the sound of a modern airplane flying high overhead but he couldn't be certain as he couldn't see through the thick canopy of the trees. Unwilling to take a chance on his mind playing tricks on him he decided to use a rock to mark this anomaly and check on the next one before making a final decision. When he stepped back from a world with low oxygen content, gasping for breath, Howard heard automatic gun fire in the distance. He rushed to the crown of the hill and saw dark-clad figures below, recognizing Evan Cross and his bird lady colleague. As he was about to call out to them the resonator began to whine in warning, the remaining time counting down at a vastly accelerated rate. Anomalies began to snap close all around him, including the one leading back to the Late Cretaceous, which should have remained open for another forty-two minutes. Something major had happened because Evan dived through one anomaly close on the heels of his colleague, leaving Howard alone and dismayed as it closed behind them.

Loud roars and screeches filled the air around him, of animals from all time periods suddenly trapped here, and Howard made his choice. With only a fraction of a second to spare he dived through the rainforest anomaly he had marked with a rock.

****

A knock on his office door early in the morning startled Billy even though he had an open door policy where his students were concerned, never bothering to stick to set office hours because science wasn't a nine to five job. His undergraduates were typical students, and as a student he had always hated having to wait sometimes days to speak with one of his lecturers over a thorny problem he'd encountered with a theory or a piece of work. For all his irascibility, Alan was similar in that respect, though they rarely had any student desperate enough to come knocking before the sun had even risen. 

He was only in his office this early because Alan had a lecture at eight and he had wanted to go back over his notes first. Billy had long given up on trying to get Alan to use a computer because, simply put, technology hated Alan, and unfortunately Alan had left his handwritten notes in his office.

Before he could say, "Enter," the door opened and a dark-haired man just a few years older than him stepped inside his office and held out his hand. Definitely not one of my students, Billy thought as he stood up. 

"Doctor Brennan?"

The title still thrilled Billy. He hadn't expected to become the youngest Doctor of Paleontology to be offered tenure at the university but he had Jurassic Park to thank for that - or rather all the publicity surrounding it that put his dissertation and his depiction of the events on Isla Sorna at the top of the best seller list for weeks. The book had been a collaboration with Alan, bringing them all the funds they needed to keep the dig running during the university breaks, and even covering the cost of week-long field trips for students who wanted to learn the techniques of uncovering the past under real rather than laboratory conditions. Fortunately, the existence of Jurassic Park's dinosaurs hadn't deterred students from taking up paleontology so he and Alan were unlikely to become 'extinct' anytime soon. If anything the courses had never been fuller, though Billy suspected some students simply wanted to be able to claim they had been taught by 'celebrities'.

"I'm Doctor Evan Cross." Billy took his hand. "And I need your help," Cross added.

"If you don't mind, I'll wait until I hear what you've got to say before I agree to help," Billy responded with a smile even though he already suspected it would have something to do with InGen's creations on the island chain sixty miles off the Costa Rica coast.

Most people wanted a public speaker to add sparkle to some dry event and he had gained some fame as a motivation speaker for surviving the Pteranodon attack and making his way to the coast where he was eventually rescued. Alan had an amazing story to tell too but he hated what he called the 'circus theatrics', making him far less approachable. He was more than happy for Billy to take all those engagements to keep the university happy, often accompanying him and sitting in the shadows at the back of the venue or in the wings, but Billy sensed something different about Evan Cross.

"What I'm about to tell you will sound unbelievable... and it can't go beyond this room," Cross insisted.

"Then I'm going to stop you right there because I don't keep secrets from my partner."

Two years ago almost to the day, Billy had stolen two Velociraptor eggs from a nest and hidden them in his lucky bag. He'd done it under the best intentions but his actions had cost one man his life - Udesky - and had almost cost him his friendship with Alan. He still remembered the bitter, angry words and how he had almost died trying to atone for what he had done. Billy had put them all in danger and only learned weeks later how close Alan and the Kirbys had come to being killed as the Velociraptors hunted them down for those eggs. He had promised Alan he would never keep a secret from him again and had laid bare his heart and soul to the biggest secret of all, of how much he loved and respected him.

Billy had expected Alan to let him down gently but instead Alan had reeled him in and kissed him deeply, letting go of his own deep secret.

Nothing else had happened for months following their declaration to each other, not until after Billy successfully defended his dissertation, officially breaking the student-teacher link between them so they could forge a new relationship as friends, colleagues... and more. Yet Billy had Alan to thank for giving all his strength and support as Billy healed from his injuries, especially in the early days when everything hurt so much. Now he had a barely noticeable limp and just the gradually fading scars across his shoulders from where the Pteranodons talons had pierced his skin and their sharp beaks had pecked at him. His backpack had saved him from the immediately life-threatening injuries but he'd still floated down that river through the long night, hearing the calls of creatures scenting his blood and wanting a piece of him. Even now he was surprised he made it out alive and at least he had Alan to hold him through the bad nights, wrapping himself around Billy as if he could protect him from his nightmares. Yet it worked, and on the really bad nights Alan would kiss him senseless, taking him apart with pleasure, and forcing away the dark fears that gripped him.

Evan Cross nodded. "I'll need Doctor Grant's help too."

There was none of the usual excitement he expected to see in Cross's eyes, instead they were deadly serious, like looking into a mirror and seeing the reflection of his own harrowing journey through hell; the eyes of someone who had seen monsters and who had lost as much as he had gained from the experience.

"You've been there," Billy said flatly.

"No. Not there... but I need to get there as quickly as possible."

"And you want us to go with you."

"Yes. But I wouldn't be surprised if you said no."

Billy picked up his phone and made a call, smiling when he heard Alan's gruff voice answering. "Alan, can you come to my office?"

Less than a minute later Alan entered, the sparkle in his eyes and the curve of his lips fading as he spotted Evan Cross. He frowned, looking between Billy and the stranger but he knew Billy wouldn't have called him in unless it was important so Alan took his favorite seat, the comfortable chair Billy had found just for him, and he waited patiently.

Cross cleared his throat.

"I read your book on the Isla Sorna and its dinosaurs some time ago and I'm hoping you'll help me. Just over an hour ago a GPS tracker I set up months earlier pinged the location of a prototype anomaly detector on one of the islands in the Las Cinco Muertes. I need to find it in the hope it leads me to a man who's been missing for five months."

"We barely got out alive last time after just a few days stranded there," Alan stated sardonically. "There's no amount of funding you could possibly offer that would make us go back."

"In your second book you thought the frog DNA must have altered the sex of the creatures, and InGen denied creating the Spinosaurus, putting it down to a rogue geneticist. I can offer you an alternative theory."

"Go on," Billy demanded, glancing across at Alan.

Cross pulled out a tablet and loaded a video, linking it to the TV screen in Billy's office. They watched the Stegosaurus footage from the skate park and then closer up from other sources.

"This was proved a hoax." Billy stated.

"Because they didn't want the truth out there. It's called an anomaly, a fracture in time and space." The next image showed a strange whirl of glittering light and the Stegosaurus rushing through it, chasing a red piece of material as a woman jumped aside at the last moment. "What you see is the Chard Layer, the... the bright line between then and now." The final shots were of a man dressed casually, walking backwards while counting down, and disappearing at the same time as the anomaly. "His name is Howard Kanan, and multi-millionaire inventor who stepped back into the Late Cretaceous period over five months ago."

"Five months is a long time. The chances of him still being alive are slim."

"It might not be five months for him. It might only be five days, or five minutes." Cross turned off the video. "I think anomalies have been opening up on those islands over the past six years allowing creatures from other time periods to step through into our present. I believe Howard found one of those anomalies and is now trapped on one of the islands in that chain. I'll be able to narrow it down once I get closer."

It seemed too fantastic to be true and yet Billy believed him. It certainly explained how a Spinosaurus from the lower Albian to lower Cenomanian could be roaming around Isla Sorna, and more importantly it solved the riddle of whatever sea monster had attacked a local fishing boat that strayed too close to the island chain more recently. Sea monsters tended not to get bitten by mosquitoes. John Hammond had insisted he had been at the birth of every creature and yet there was a full herd of Brachiosaurus and various other species that would have taken years to grow to full adult size. As importantly, not all of InGen's creations had West Nile frog encoded into their DNA so Cross's anomaly theory could also explain how some of those all-female creatures procreated while similar creatures on the original list had died out.

If Evan Cross was telling the truth then a whole herd could have walked through one of these so-called anomalies, possibly to replace or procreate with InGen's monsters. They would not have had a Lysine deficiency to pass onto the next generation, which again explained why they were flourishing.

Just as Ian Malcolm had proclaimed in his own novel, life may have found a way.

"My God, if it's true it changes everything we thought we knew about the past," Alan exclaimed. "Did InGen know about theses anomalies?" he asked quietly, a sign he was pretty angry. 

Billy nodded in agreement with the question, thinking of all the weird Carbon 14 readings that had confused paleontologists for decades, which could be explained if a creature had walked through one of these anomalies thousands of years into its own future... or past. He looked to Alan, seeing fear mingled with scientific curiosity because as much as they would both like to discover the truth for themselves, those islands were dangerous. Billy wanted to go but he couldn't promise Alan he'd stay safe, or not be injured or even killed if he went back to those islands, and if Alan agreed to go with him then he knew he could lose the most precious person in his life. Yet, for all his fear he wanted to know the truth. He wanted to see those incredible animals again with his own eyes, even the Pteranodons.

"I want to go," Billy stated softly, knowing Alan's fear was for him rather than for himself.

"I almost lost you." Alan looked away for a moment and was smiling wanly when he looked back. "Astronauts and astronomers," he murmured but Billy understood the reference.

Alan had told him of the conversation held with Erik as they sailed down the river, when Alan thought him dead. Alan had likened himself to an astronomer, wanting to see the stars from the safety of the ground, and Billy was an astronaut, wanting to reach up and touch the stars. In all the running and screaming and fear they had both lost sight of the true beauty of those 'theme park monsters'. To learn that some might be the real thing, true dinosaurs who had crossed through a portal from the past into the present, was amazing. He knew Alan was thinking of the sick Triceratops from his first venture into Jurassic Park, and of the other amazing creatures they had come across; the herd of Brachiosaurus, the flock of Gallimimus, the soaring Pteranodons searching for a new nesting ground, even the Spinosaurus and T-rex were a magnificent though deadly sight.

Billy had seen the Pteranodon's in flight up close as he paraglided through their cage to rescue Erik. They had attacked him and almost killed him out of natural instinct rather than malice, and he could no more hate them than he could hate an eagle for swooping down and snatching up a rabbit, for in their world humans were prey. Yet for all the remembered fear as he took flight among them, he could recall how majestic they were, soaring high above him with their leathery wings splayed out to catch the thermals.

"I want to go back," Billy repeated, and Alan nodded.

"This time you'll be going in better prepared," Cross stated, but after all he had seen and heard from other ventures to the islands, Billy doubted the preparations would be enough, and yet he still wanted to go.

****

Alan was reminded of the day they were rescued from Isla Nublar, except in reverse as the group of three large transport helicopters swept across the 200 miles of blue ocean separating the island chain from the mainland. The two hour time difference meant it was just past midday here, but he saw no Pteranodons in flight this time. However, as they closed in on the islands he thought he saw a massive dark shadow moving beneath the water, possibly attracted by the rhythmic thumping of the helicopter blades. Evan Cross was focused on his laptop, which Alan was determined not to go anywhere near due to his terrible luck with technology. The younger man was feeding information to the pilot as he homed in on the signal pinging from the anomaly detector gadget that he had mentioned back on campus.

The helicopter veered towards the largest of the islands - Isla Sorna, or Site B. This was where he and Billy had seen species of dinosaur that were not on InGen's official list, though at the time he had presumed it was a cover up. Certainly John Hammond had denied all knowledge of the Spinosaurus and had made no mention of any marine dinosaurs, let alone anything that large hunting in the water between the islands.

"Did you see that?" Billy asked.

Alan nodded. "Possibly an Ichthyosaurus or Mosasaur judging by the size of the shadow."

He recalled a conversation with Erik during that first night on Isla Sorna, hiding in the old InGen water truck.

"We found your mom's video camera. Did you want to talk about what happened?"

Up until then Erik had seemed so strong but he hunched over, becoming a small, frightened boy once more.

"We didn't see what attacked the boat. It went inside a fog bank and by the time it came out the other side the two guys were gone." Alan nodded because all of this was on the video, recalling a frightened boy and a man trying to keep calm for both of them. Ben had saved Erik's life by guiding the paraglider onto the island. "Do you think something under the water attacked them?"

"No. Whatever it was, it attacked the boat from above. Perhaps some form of Pterosaur."

"Big enough to carry off a man?" 

Alan had shrugged weakly as he had no idea what other monsters were lying in wait for them on the island. Erik changed the subject from the boat and its missing men and Alan refrained from asking what had happened to Ben. It was fairly obvious anyway as Ben had been alive and uninjured when they paraglided onto the island but he had never had the chance to unharness himself and drop to the ground just a few feet below before he was attacked. Judging by the visible damage to his remains, his attacker was too small to carry off his body, eating him alive as he hung from the tree. Erik would have witnessed the attack, perhaps barely escaping himself, and even then only because they were too intent on the larger, easier meal. He recalled speaking with Ian Malcolm following the San Diego incident. Ian had mentioned Ludlow's people losing one man to a pack of Compsognathus - tiny chicken-sized lizards that hunted in packs to swarm over a larger prey. The way Erik had tensed, rushing to close the hatch upon hearing a distant twittering chirp outside the water truck seemed to support Alan's theory.

Compies. Small, but definitely a creature to fear in numbers.

Hours later he had thought back to that conversation concerning the boat as they sailed down the river away from the bird cage, his heart aching from losing Billy. Erik had mentioned throwing a human skull at the chicks in the Pteranodon nest, and from his description it had been too fresh to be remains from years earlier so Alan strongly suspected it was from one of the men who had been attacked on the ' _Dinosoar_ ' boat. He had said nothing to Erik at the time, though he wondered if Erik would put two and two together eventually and get the same answer. For now he hadn't wanted to remind Erik, feeling nauseous enough from knowing Billy may have ended up the same way having saved Erik from that fate. As it was, he had felt his heart breaking from emotions he had no right to feel for one of his students, but Billy had been more than a face in his classroom or on the dig. A colleague. A friend, and if Alan could have swept aside the rules, he might have been tempted to ask for more.

He looked across the cabin and caught Billy watching him from the seat opposite, smiling softly in that way that meant he could read Alan's thoughts and understood. It was humbling to have someone know him so well - warts and all - and still love him. The thought of coming back here, of possibly losing Billy for good this time, was terrifying, but the thought of letting Billy come here without him was simply unacceptable.

"I have a lock on the south east corner of the island," Cross exclaimed, bringing Alan out of his thoughts and memories.

To Alan's knowledge no one had ventured to that part of the island since InGen pulled out over five years earlier. On the previous occasion the Kirbys had landed the plane on the airstrip on the west side of the island and they had headed south, following the river to the coast. Ian Malcolm's terrifying adventure had started in the north east with everyone driven west, hugging the north coastline before venturing inland to reach the InGen Operations Center in the hope they could use the old equipment to send out a distress call. The difficulty with going into the south east, even in a helicopter, would be in finding a place to set down as the only open ground between the canopy of the large rain forest and the jagged, sheer sides of the volcanic mountains would be a game trail, and where there was game there were predators.

"I guess it's a little too late to say I've changed my mind," he murmured to Billy, and felt his hand squeezed in response as Billy reached for him.

Billy was trying to conceal his fear behind a brave mask and carefree smile but Alan did not need to imagine the terror resurrected in his mind from their previous encounters with velociraptors, the Spinosaurus, and Pteranodons. Alan had lived through those same horrors and the nightmares still had the power to bring him awake in seconds, terrified. Still, as much as he wanted to be here to protect Billy, he also needed to be here for himself as he had never truly bought in on the whole mosquito explanation. It went against everything he thought he knew about geology and paleontology, though a good scientist never dismissed possibilities especially with the advancement of technology - and in the face of the living creatures literally breathing into his face at one point. Evan Cross's anomalies changed everything, turning those theme park monsters back into the animals that had captivated him since childhood. He had spent his life studying these creatures, from the largest carnivore to the smallest mammal, and though they had been fossilized remains with just theories on how they moved, ate, lived, and procreated, he was an expert in his field. If anything else not on InGen's list had come through one of these anomalies from over 65 million years in the past then his and Billy's knowledge might make the difference between life and death.

More importantly though, he needed to be here to protect Billy. This past year and a half had been amazing, with days full of love and laughter, and nights curled around each other to keep the nightmares at bay. He had barely survived the loss last time when they were only colleagues, student and teacher, with only his determination to help the Kirby's reach safety keeping him from giving up altogether. Now he and Billy were so much more and if he lost him again, Alan didn't believe he could go on alone this time.

It didn't take long for the helicopter to cover the remaining distance but as Alan suspected, finding somewhere to land was not going to be easy. They circled around high above the thick canopy close to where the signal from the anomaly detector was strongest but ended up flying miles to the north before they found an area large enough to land. It was grazing land and most of the animals scattered in all directions from beneath them, but not all. Alan saw it first, a large female, probably the matriarch of a family group of Triceratops; she charged like a modern day Rhinoceros. The helicopter pilot reacted to Alan's shout but still not quick enough, the sharp horns piercing the skin of the helicopter, skewing one soldier and grazing Lieutenant Leeds. The helicopter tilted alarmingly, its rotor blades gouging into the ground and snapping off, pieces of metal flying off in all directions as the Triceratops bellowed in pain. Alan was thrown sideways as the helicopter skidded across the grassland towards the trees, and perhaps it looked like a creature with its belly exposed as the Triceratops ignored the slice across its shoulder and charged again, lifting the entire cabin up high and flipping it completely over. 

Fortunately the other two helicopters stayed clear, hovering high above the area, and that seemed to satisfy the Triceratops as she moved off quickly back towards her group.

Alan managed to scramble out with the others, including the two injured men, taking advantage of the cover afforded by the trees. Billy was right beside him looking pained but without obvious injury while Cross cursed over his damaged laptop before clambering back inside the damaged cabin to quickly grab a backpack. Cross pulled out another smaller device, playing with it for a moment, and the tension flowed out of him when the screen finally lit up, pinpointing the position of the anomaly detector. Alan saw Leeds on his radio, looking up as he spoke. Leeds headed over to join the rest of them as soon as he finished the call.

"Doctor Cross? The Triceratops have moved away. They are going to do a quick land and dustoff."

Cross nodded.

It all became clear when the helicopter dropped quickly. More soldiers and two more of Cross's people jumped out before quickly loading on the badly injured soldier while Leeds waved off his injury as just a flesh wound. The helicopter was back high in the air moments later while the remaining helicopter dropped in and disgorged its passengers. The two helicopters moved off together, heading further north, though Alan had no idea where they proposed to land as nowhere was safe in this island chain. Silence descended for a moment, slowly replaced with the natural sounds of the rain forest around them. Alan could hear the distant bellow of the Triceratops and other herd animals, but no deeper roar of a large predator. It didn't mean there was nothing out there, and if his theory was true and the T-rex did have a sense of smell to exceed that of a modern day vulture, then the scent of blood might lead it to them. Though more likely it would scent the wounded Triceratops first, and that saddened Alan. Although the Triceratops had attacked them she had only been protecting her family, and she had been magnificent. It brought back memories of the heavily-doped Triceratops in Jurassic Park, and the giddiness he'd felt from touching her and feeling her breathe - a living dinosaur and his favorite one from childhood. He hoped she wasn't too injured to defend herself.

"We need to go this way," Cross stated, pointing to the south east.

"First we need to see to our wounds before the scent of blood attracts predators," Alan stated, expecting to have to argue with Cross but Dylan Weir was well ahead of him with the medical kit already unpacked.

"And to prevent any wounds getting infected," she stated firmly, pointedly looking towards Leeds and his 'flesh wound'. Working quickly she sealed the gash and gave Leeds an injection of a broad-spectrum antibiotic; the rest of them had got off lightly with scrapes and bruises, applying antiseptic cream and bandages where necessary. "The injured Triceratops should mask our blood scent... for a while," Weir added as she buried the bloodied wipes while Billy repacked the medical kit.

Billy stowed the kit inside his lucky bag.

Quickly, they moved out with Alan and Billy near the front to watch for any signs of predators. Dylan joined them, moving past to take point with Leeds right behind her. Cross had introduced her as an animal control specialist, and even though she probably couldn't tell the tracks of a Triceratops from a Stegosaurus, she handled herself with confidence as they moved through the forest. Certainly she seemed to know enough to keep them a healthy distance away from the game trail so they could avoid any predators lying in wait for an opportunity to feed. When she stopped suddenly everyone halted, staying silent as she beckoned Alan and Billy forward.

The tracks were fresh and someone without extensive knowledge of dinosaurs might have dismissed them as too small to worry over. Billy turned to Alan.

"Probably three feet in height. Small predator or juvenile. Could be a natural, or could be an InGen creation."

"Dilophosaurus," Alan stated firmly, pointing to patch of green-black mucus splattered against a tree. A glance beyond the tree led them to a mostly devoured smaller animal.

Dylan crouched down beside them. "Dilophosaurus?"

"Fossilized remains of the Dilophosaurus had them about shoulder height to the average man. It walked on two legs, long jaw like a crocodile," Billy replied.

"But what InGen created was something smaller, practically a new species, with a retractable neck frill for scaring other predators and prey, and able to spit venom that paralyzes its prey," Alan added.

"And then it eats them," Dylan stated. 

"And then it eats them," Alan repeated ominously. "Preferably alive."

She touched the tracks in the soft earth and looked to Cross, who had joined them. "Well, first the good news. This meal and those tracks are an hour old. Bad news. It's heading in the same direction as us and has an hour's head start."

Cross looked worried and disturbed. "Then we'd best get moving."

****

Evan made them pick up the pace, aware they were at least a two hour walk from the current location of Howard's anomaly detector. The only other news was noticing it was also on the move, heading towards them, but Evan couldn't be sure if that was good or bad, especially taking into account the predator already halfway between them. If the detector was still in Howard's possession then Howard could be in trouble very soon.

"Tell me about this Dilophosaurus," he asked Billy as they walked.

"After everything went public, Hammond showed Alan the video feeds of some of the creatures created by InGen. Their Dilophosaurus was like a smaller or juvenile version of the one seen in fossils uncovered from the Early Jurassic Period. InGen had used DNA from modern animals to fill in the gaps from degraded DNA. The Frilled lizard and the Yellow Banded Poisonous Dart frog in particular, so that kind of explained the expandable neck frill and venom, but not the spitting."

"Gene splicing error?"

"Possibly."

"And that thing is heading towards Howard."

"Yeah."

"We have to get there first," Evan stated worriedly.

"This guy? You said on the flight over you barely knew him. Yet you're out here risking all our lives to save him."

"I... I can't explain," Evan shot a glance towards him. "It's a... connection. We made a connection and..." He trailed off looking uncomfortable and confused.

Billy smiled at Evan, glancing back over his shoulder at Alan Grant. "I get it."

"You do? Then maybe you can explain it to me."

"I think you'll figure it out soon enough," Billy added cryptically.

They reached a stream that, by itself, was barely five feet across but over the centuries it had cut a path deep through the rock. The banks added another three feet either side of the water, leading to steeply slanted sides of at least ten or twelve feet, tripling the width of the gap by the time it reached the top. Too far to jump even if they could clear a launch area. The trees grew right up to the opening, some with their roots exposed as they teetered on the edge. Evan checked in both directions to see if the ravine narrowed further up or down stream but it curved around as it meandered towards the ocean. He figured they would have to find another way to cross here or travel possibly some distance out of their way. Perhaps miles. Leeds joined him, surveying the situation for a moment before calling two of his men forward. When the men took thin but strong nylon rope from their backpacks, preparing to set up a one-rope bridge, Evan laughed softly. He'd forgotten these soldiers were prepared for this kind of terrain. One soldier, Corporal Dwyer, was lowered by rope to the stream bed so he could wade across, climb the other side, and set the far anchor point, but when he reached the bottom, the thick vegetation below rustled and a creature with two crests on its head chittered as it stepped out, head cocking form one side to the other as it stared up at the man.

"Get him up!" Grant shouted.

The creature's neck-frill expanded as it hissed. It spat a thick, viscous slime, aiming for the man's face but it struck Dwyer on the leg as he was quickly hauled up beyond the dinosaur's reach. Once back up top Dwyer looked across in shock and nodded his gratitude to Grant.

"Don't touch it," Grant warned before Dwyer to use his hand to wipe away the disgusting mess. "It's a paralytic agent."

Below them the Dilophosaurus hopped and leaped, trying to get to the meal it had just lost, but the sides were too steep.

"At least your friend doesn't have to worry about the Dilophosaurus," Billy stated softly, pointing to the tracks he'd found that disappeared over the side, which also explained the small gashes on the creature's side.

This was very likely the same creature that had been heading towards Howard but it had either misjudged the leap and fallen - if it could jump that far - only to find it couldn't get back up. Evan considered it a lucky break even though there were just as many other dangers still lying in wait out there, though none of this helped them cross the stream. He kicked at some of the loose earth, almost catching his foot in some exposed roots. Evan frowned, quickly calculating the weight and height of one particular tree, and smiling when he realized it was possible.

"What if we make a different kind of bridge," he pointed to the tree that was already leaning dangerously over the ravine from where the soil had eroded away from its roots.

It took surprisingly little time and effort to further destabilize the tree, hearing a crack as its center of gravity shifted bringing it toppling down to straddle the ravine. Mac insisted on going first, balancing carefully as he walked across to the other side on a trunk not much more than a foot across at the narrowest point. Evan followed, then Private Riesman, Billy, Alan, and Dylan, taking it one person at a time to avoid putting too much weight on the tree. Leeds and Dwyer came over last.

While he waited for the last of them to cross Evan checked the signal from Howard's anomaly detector.

"Damn it!"

Mac was by his side instantly. "What is it?"

Evan showed him the locator screen. On it the signal was moving faster but no longer heading straight for them, angling to the west of their current location. Evan quickly worked out an intercept course and got everyone moving. He refused to believe this wasn't Howard, which meant Howard was probably running for his life right now, but even if they started running too it would still take them at least thirty minutes to reach him. His fear for Howard had his heart racing, a mantra inside his head screaming, "You can't die. You can't die."

With sudden clarity he saw what Billy had figured out so quickly and easily. For years Ange had tried to be there for him, becoming angry and frustrated when he couldn't seem to move past Brooke's death even five years later, and eventually breaking up their partnership both professionally and personally when she finally accepted he could never give her what she wanted - all of him. For a time he wondered if perhaps her timing had been wrong, with him still too caught up in the anomalies and the horror of that terrible day when Brooke was killed by the Albertosaurus. Yet after spending barely half an hour arguing and debating the anomalies and harmonics with Howard he had started to move on, not realizing how dead he was inside until he started to feel alive again in Howard's presence. The sharp mind and wicked humor, the bright smile and the sparkle of excitement, of new discovery in his eyes. Howard's passion had inflamed Evan too, allowing him to drive back the shadows and see beyond the fear and horror of that first anomaly to the magnificence of many of the creatures he had encountered since; creatures caught out of time, and no more evil than a modern day crocodile.

Meeting Howard had given him the strength to leave Brooke in the past rather than risk the whole timeline trying to save her. He couldn't lose Howard now, not after sacrificing so much.

Mac grabbed at his arm as he started moving.

"Evan! Getting ourselves killed isn't going to help him any."

Evan was torn between the need to rush headlong into the forest to reach Howard and Mac's plead for caution. Mac was right though. The likelihood of meeting a T-rex or Spinosaurus was low in the density of the forest but there had to be other smaller predators who were just as lethal, using the forest as their hunting ground. They moved out at a slightly faster pace, with Evan hoping it would be enough.

****

The first time he stepped through the anomaly into this time he thought he heard something mechanical in the distance - a modern airplane, perhaps - but the density of the rain forest canopy and the night time shadows had made it impossible to see the sky clearly, leaving him in doubt. He wondered if he had simply heard what he wanted to hear, but with all the anomalies snapping closed he had no choice but to rely on his gut feelings because to stay would be to die. So he took a leap of faith, metaphorically as well as physically.

Around him he heard the sounds of animals calling but at first he couldn't tell if they were modern day creatures or something from the far distant past. A low timbre roar sent a shiver of fear through him because that was one sound he did recognize and it was something massive. If it had come through the anomaly from the spaghetti junction of anomalies then it was likely trying to reach the edge of the rain forest as Howard didn't think it had enough room to maneuver between the trees. He heard a loud cracking, possibly of a tree snapping, which gave credence to his theory. It came from south of his current position so he decided not to head in that direction. He had to find a safe place to lie low until dawn - if any place could truly be considered safe - so once more he took to the trees, finding an older, thicker tree and climbing it slowly and carefully until he was at least twenty feet up.

Howard felt a moment of nostalgia for his old tree back in the Cretaceous but unlike there the temperature hadn't dropped with the setting sun. It was hot and humid, and he was glad he had stocked up on water as he was sweating, knowing he could quickly become dehydrated if he wasn't careful. Once the sun rose he'd start walking north, away from the sound of the big predator. If his mind wasn't playing tricks on him and he had heard a plane overhead then eventually he should reach civilization. For now though, he would try to sleep while he could in the strong hope none of the predators here could easily climb a tree.

He awoke with a start having fallen asleep between one thought and the next, cursing himself for having slept through the morning, but it wasn't the increasing temperature or dappled light from the sun directly overhead that had him sitting up sharply, almost losing his balance and falling out of the tree. A loud thumping filled the air and Howard knew without a shadow of doubt that no bird was making that noise.

"Helicopters," he stated almost breathlessly, tears filling his eyes because this meant he was within eighty years of his own time.

He had a worryingly thought, wondering if this was Korea or Vietnam. Helicopters had been used extensively during those wars, and for a moment he feared he might get caught up in the middle of the fighting, mistaken for an American soldier or CIA operative, murdered or imprisoned. Yet what choice did he have? He couldn't stay hidden forever because he'd heard further calls in the night from creatures that did not belong in the modern world. The sound of the helicopters drifted north and finally disappeared, and Howard knew he had to follow them in the hope they could help him.

The rain forest was dense and he found it hard going, forced to clamber over downed trees, all the while watching for predators sneaking up on him. About an hour later he was struggling over yet another downed tree, tiring from the heat and exertion when a small, bird-like lizard popped up right beside him, startling him. It was no bigger than a chicken and it cocked its head to one side inquisitively. Howard pretended to ignore it while keeping a close watch in his peripheral vision, hoping it was simply curious about him and would wander off once it had sated its curiosity.

Once he was on the other side of the tree trunk, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath and regain his bearings but the little lizard jumped down beside him, making a high-pitched chittering sound. Howard decided to keep moving, feeling the hair rising at the nape of his neck when a second lizard hopped towards him from the undergrowth. The two lizards moved through the dense vegetation with ease as they trailed after him, and when he grabbed a branch to swing under another obstruction, he snatched his hand back sharply as a third lizard made to nip at his fingers.

This was not good. One of these lizards was not much of a threat but now there were three... no, four of them.

The first one had hopped over the downed tree with relative ease, making him wonder if they could climb. A glance at the one that had climbed up onto a low branch gave him a clear view of its feet and the talons gripping the wood far too easily. They were fast too but cautious, and that was the only trait working to his advantage right now, though he knew they would lose that caution once their numbers had doubled. There were six of them now and Howard had seen nothing he could use to deter them from following him. A baseball bat-sized branch might work against one or two but not against a small pack. If he wasn't in the middle of rain forest then he might have been able to light a fire but everything around him looked too damp. He knew they could climb but even if they couldn't they were faster than him and would attack and drag him down before he could reach safety higher in the canopy. He had no idea how they would react to water, even if he should happen to find a river to swim across, so that only left him with one dangerous choice.

Howard pulled out a small jar, noticing how the small lizards backed off a little as soon as he opened it. He debated his options for a moment before putting some of the Albertosaurus crap into his remaining water, shaking the bottle to mix the contents. He had a choice now either to splash it over himself in the hope the scent of a larger predator would deter them, or splash them with it. The problem with the first choice made him a target for the larger predators, and he knew there was at least one of them in the rain forest perhaps only a few miles away. Decision made, he dropped an antacid tablet into the bottle - his last one - and shook vigorously, spraying the carbonated predator scented water towards the lizards, catching most of them. They scattered in several different directions. Howard knew he had to take advantage and put as much distance between him and them before they regrouped and came after him, so he ran as hard as he could, hoping he'd find something to stop or slow them down before they caught up with him again.

Anything.

He didn't see the edge of ravine until he was falling over the top, half-sliding, half-rolling, hands grabbing for anything to slow down his rapid descent to the bottom. Bruised and scraped he cursed under his breath as he pushed back to his feet, cursing under his breath as the scent of his blood in the air would lead the chicken-lizards back to him. From the flow of the water at the bottom of this ravine, the stream was meandering south but wasn't deep enough to mask his scent. He heard the first of the lizards descending through the thick vegetation behind him, leaving two choices. He could try to climb up the other side or he could follow the stream north in the hope of finding an easier way out or a place to hide. 

The other slope looked steep with few places to use as a handhold, and he now had two of the small lizards barely twenty feet behind him. They would overtake him easily as he tried to climb.

Howard stumbled onwards upstream, feeling desperate now as the sides were growing steeper, adding to his fear of becoming trapped. Several more the lizards had joined the others, all hopping within ten feet of him, slowly closing in. One grew braver than the rest and attacked, leaping onto his back and scrabbling over his shoulder. Its small, sharp teeth sank into the skin just below his jaw before he could grab hold of it and toss it aside. It hit a rock at the base of the ravine wall with a crunch, no longer moving, and the others swarmed over it, tearing it to pieces, but buying him a few more precious seconds. Two more attacked him, then a third, and he cried out as one nipped his finger when he grabbed for it, but he managed to shake all three loose, hearing one let out a high pitched cry of pain as he hurled it away. He grabbed a small broken branch and whacked at another of the lizards, using it like a baseball bat. His actions deterred them for a few minutes and he carried on moving upstream at a faster pace, hoping the next bend in the ravine would bring greater hope of survival, but the lizards were growing far bolder. He didn't have long before they attacked in a far larger group, and he didn't want to die like this, not after surviving over a month in the Late Cretaceous with far larger predators.

The ravine was narrowing and deepening, and if he didn't find a way out soon then the sides would become too steep for him to climb without a rope.

"Oh shit," he exclaimed, freezing when he came round the next sharp bend.

Ahead of him a dinosaur sat up on its haunches, bringing it to waist height, head cocking inquisitively from side to side as its scented his blood in the air. Two red crests ran along the top of its head from front to back and its front legs ended with sharp claws. The serrated, backward curving teeth and those strong forearms meant this was no herbivore but a carnivore. It had several gashes along its flank as if it had recently been in a fight or, more likely, had fallen into the ravine the same way he had fallen earlier. Caught between the predatory lizard pack and this other carnivore, Howard had only one way out and that was up. He could see a thick tree root sticking out on the north side of the stream and he ran, leaping up to grab for it in the hope it was strong enough to hold his weight as he climbed. Behind him the carnivore hissed as he scrabbled to pull himself up higher, expecting to be dragged down at any moment and eaten alive. The chittering from the lizards increased in volume along with the hissing. He managed to get a few feet further up, looking down to see how close the creature was only to find it had moved away. A brilliant red and orange neck frill had expanded and it spat something dark and thick towards the small lizards closing in on it, leaping forward to devour one of them in a single bite. The others attacked, and while the creatures were distracted by each other, Howard kept climbing, using the tree roots to haul himself up. He was so close to the top when he reached for another root and felt it pull away from the earth, realizing too late he was off balance. As he began to fall, something reached out and grabbed his wrist.

A human hand.

Howard looked up in shock as his eyes met those of a man who had haunted his dreams from the day he saw his first anomaly: Evan Cross.

****

Billy dropped to the edge next to Evan and grabbed for the man just below them, helping to pull him out of the ravine. Others joined him, falling back as the man... as Howard Kanan grabbed hold of Evan and hugged him, holding him so tight Billy wondered if either of them could breathe. He smiled as Evan hugged Howard back just as tightly, one hand cradling the back of Howard's head in a gesture of protection that wasn't lost on Billy - or Alan.

"I didn't think I was going to make it," Kanan stated raggedly, voice raw with emotion and disuse.

Alan moved closer to Billy, empathizing with the disheveled man, his clothes dirty and torn in places. Some of his exposed skin looked bruised or scraped - his knees and elbows, the jagged, almost healed scratch along his rib cage and a darkened, still purpling bruise that must have come from a more recent fall.

"And if we don't get moving, you still might not," Alan said in a dry tone that masked his fear.

Billy looked over the edge where the Compies were still attacking the Dilophosaurus, overcoming it by sheer numbers. He felt a momentary pang of sorrow for the creature even if it was just one of InGen's creations rather than a real dinosaur. Alan was right. This meal would keep the Compies satisfied for now but Billy saw the sense in putting as much distance between them and the pack as possible. They would have to retrace their steps, heading back north to the closest open ground so Leeds could order in the two remaining helicopters to pick them up. What concerned him was knowing the ravine twisted around and the only crossing place behind them was the tree. It had seemed stable enough at the time but the light had been fading over the past fifteen minutes.

Leeds confirmed his suspicions. "There's a storm coming in."

"We should get back to the tree as fast as possible," Billy replied to the whole group. "Before the rain destabilizes our bridge."

The first raindrops began to fall through the gaps in the canopy over their heads as Dylan finished applying a salve and bandage to the bite wound on Howard's finger and neck. Within minutes of them heading back the ground beneath their feet was soft, becoming treacherous underfoot as they slipped while trying to climb over downed tree trunks and exposed roots. 

"Fuck," Riesman exclaimed as he gashed his hand open on the sharp edge of a broken branch, blood dripping from the wound.

"We have to deal with this now," Dylan demanded, forcing them to stop while she grabbed the medical kit to staple the wound and staunch the flow. 

Like him and Alan, she understood all too well how the scent of that much blood could lead a predator right to them if they didn't act quickly. Evan took advantage of the forced stop to grab antibiotic cream and dab at some of Howard's other injuries, and Billy smiled wryly. He couldn't hear the words passing between them but the looks and gentle touches stated volumes, revealing how much Evan cared for this man. Once Dylan had tended to Reisman they moved on, hunched over miserably as the cool rain seeped through their clothing to soak their skin. They reached the tree bridge in good time but Billy could see the surface had become slippery from the rain.

"Dwyer, Mac, you go first," Leeds ordered. "Then the good Doctors," he added, nodding towards Billy, Alan, and Howard Kanan with a smile. It made sense as Dwyer and Mac could handle weapons and protect them on the other side while Leeds, Reisman, Evan, and Dylan could protect them from the rear. "Play out a rope," Leeds commanded, and Billy watched Dwyer take the thin nylon rope from his backpack and tie one end securely to a nearby tree.

Dwyer went first, and Billy swallowed hard as his foot slipped on the wet surface and he almost fell, somehow catching his balance. Although it widened towards the far end, Dwyer covered the last few feet more cautiously on hands and knees to keep a lower center of gravity. Once on the other side he tied the rope off using another tree a little further back, tightening the rope to use as a handrail for the next person. Mac clipped himself onto the safety line as he slowly walked across, making it to the other side without difficulty.

"Your turn, Billy," Alan stated softly but Billy could see the worry in his eyes, recalling the last time they had gone one at a time across a possibly treacherous bridge. On that occasion a Pteranodon had snatched up Erik mid-crossing, and the terrible events that followed that almost cost Billy his life too.

"See you on the other side," Billy quipped, reaching out to touch Alan in reassurance before heading across.

He could feel a slight rocking in the tree as he walked carefully along the length of the trunk that had not been there on the earlier crossing. He made it across without incident and turned, keeping his eyes solidly on Alan as he started to cross. Although the oldest in the group by several years, Alan had spent years under the hot Montana sun digging up dinosaurs so he was in good shape but Billy could see the trunk moving a little with every step Alan took, holding his breath until Alan was safely on this side. Evan insisted on Howard going next, following him across moments later. He paused partway as the tree shifted a little, deciding to crawl the last few feet to spread his weight a little more. Looking down Billy could see the earth loosening around the roots at this end as the rain continued to fall heavily. Leeds insisted on Dylan going next. She was halfway across when the tree rolled slightly but made it to the other side, looking back across at the remaining two men in concern.

Leeds nodded to Reisman, who looked like he wanted to argue but did as ordered. He was halfway across when the bank gave way and this end of the tree fell into the ravine. Reisman was clipped to the rope, hanging from it as he climbed up his short safety line to grab for it. The movement tore open the gash on his hand and it began to bleed profusely again, his fingers slipping in his own blood. A chittering noise from below sent a shiver of fear through Billy, and he watched in horror as the Compies used the downed tree to launch themselves at an easy meal dangling in front of them. Erik had never talked about what happened to Ben and now Billy could understand why as nothing stopped the frenzied feeding - shouting, throwing mud and tree branches did nothing to deter the small lizards as they tore into Reisman, his screams cutting short with a gurgle as blood frothed at his mouth. Sharp teeth severed the safety line and Reisman's body fell with a sickening crunch as it hit the tree trunk and fell over the side into the stream below.

"Leeds!" Evan shouted, and Billy could see several more Compies clambering up from below, using the tree as a climbing frame, heading for where Leeds seemed frozen in shock. 

The shout seemed to shake him loose from the horror and Leeds swung up onto the rope, moving across quickly in a monkey crawl using hands and feet. One of the Compies leaped onto him but was dislodged by a rock hurled from someone beside Billy. He glanced sideways to find Howard Kanan looking determined as he picked up another small rock. Another lizard was clinging to the rope, strangely agile as it rapidly followed Leeds, and Kanan threw another rock. It struck the lizard but not hard enough to knock its grip from the rope, but the lizard stopped long enough for Leeds to reach them. As Evan and Dwyer grabbed hold of him, Dylan cut the rope.

"We need to keep moving while they're feeding," Alan stated softly, but Billy could see how much it hurt him to leave a man behind, wondering if he was remembering the Pteranodon attack two years earlier on this same island.

He had a feeling the nightmares would be back for both of them... if they got out off this island alive.

****

The rain began to ease off soon after the bridge and Alan stayed close to Billy as they continued north towards the rendezvous point. As they approached the game trail, loud cracking in the trees ahead forced them to stop and a little of the horror left Alan as he saw the small family group of Triceratops stripping bark from the trees while others grazed on the high grass at the edge of the game trail. The big female was with them and she eyed them aggressively. The gash on her shoulder didn't seem to be bothering her at all and Alan was quietly glad she hadn't been attacked by a larger predator... so far. He wanted to stay and watch her and her group, wanted to study the Triceratops in their new habitat, seeing the younger calves that indicated this group had come through one of Evan Cross's anomalies rather than being bred in a laboratory by InGen. These were real dinosaurs, slightly different in coloring to the one he had first seen in Hammond's Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. That one had been a single brown-gray coloring all over but like the creature in the video Cross had shown them, the bony frill protecting the necks of these Triceratops was brightly colored, edged and striped in red.

"You see the bony frill?" Billy asked. "They all have the same coloring... male and female... so it must be for defense rather than attracting a mate. A warning to potential attackers, maybe?"

"Probably, so let's keep a wide berth," he murmured, not wanting to risk her charging them again.

They reached the edge of the game trail, looking across the mile wide grassland at a herd of Parasaurolophus mingled with Apatosaurus. Two different species of dinosaur that had existed millions of years apart in two different periods - the Late Cretaceous and the Late Jurassic - and yet moving in harmony now as they grazed alongside each other. He turned and matched Billy's bright smile with one of his own. The majesty and beauty of these creatures overshadowed the horror of Reisman's death for a moment, reminding him that there was incredible life as well as death on these islands.

When Leeds made to lead them into the long grass, Alan grabbed his shoulder.

"No. Velociraptors hunt in the long grass. That's how they lost most of Ludlow's people. We stay in the trees until the helicopters get here."

The final few minutes as they waited for the helicopters were the worst, knowing the thumping sound could attract the interest of predators. They would still need to move through the long grass to reach the helicopters but he hoped the strange noise and the wind from the rotors would give them the vital seconds they needed to make it to relative safety. He caught Billy's arm, wanting his full attention.

"I'm not planning on leaving this island without you so you'd better stay close."

Billy laughed softly, leaning in to kiss him, lips still curved in a smile when he pulled back. "Same goes for you."

It was almost an anticlimax, running as fast as they could towards the open doors of the helicopter and clambering on-board, but Alan didn't even begin to relax until they were over the ocean heading back towards Costa Rica. He doubted he would fully relax until they were back in their home, wrapped around each other in their bed, and even then he knew he'd be holding onto Billy tightly for the foreseeable future.

****

Evan looked across the cabin of the helicopter at Howard. For Howard only a little over a month had past since he walked backwards through the anomaly into the Late Cretaceous, and yet the difference in him seemed greater than the five months that had passed for Evan. He was still the same brilliant man, still fired with new ideas regarding the anomalies and harmonics and electromagnetic fields, but the manic edge was gone as if burned away in the hell of survival. When he smiled across at Evan it was soft and real, blue eyes no longer crazed, and in that moment Evan knew he had fallen hard for him.

Once back in Costa Rica they stayed long enough to have any injuries properly cleaned and dressed before boarding a private jet that would take them back to Vancouver - with a stop along the way in Montana to drop off Alan and Billy. At the start of the long flight home Evan had listened in equal parts fascination and horror as Howard described all he had seen in the Late Cretaceous to the two paleontologists, answering questions concerning the habits of some of the dinosaurs he had seen as he talked of Grant's first book on Dinosaurs. When Howard mentioned the Albertosaurus with the damaged arm, and how it had come by its injury, Evan felt a chill run through him, followed by a pang of grief for all of them - dinosaur and human - for how their lives had been connected as if fated.

It was a chicken and egg scenario, though he still wanted to blame himself for Brooke's death, not Howard, or even the Albertosaurus anymore.

It was the early hours of the following morning by the time the private jet landed in Vancouver. Howard was fast asleep having succumbed to exhaustion halfway through the flight, not even waking when they touched down in Montana and took off again twenty minutes later, perhaps feeling safe for the first time in over a month. Although exhausted and a little battered, he looked better now than he had back then. His hair was slightly longer and bleached from days out in the sunshine rather than hiding away in his work room. He looked slightly less gaunt too considering his ordeal, especially now he was freshly showered, shaved, and dressed in clean clothes.

To be on the safe side, Evan had ordered Howard's ragged and torn clothing incinerated back in Costa Rica. After hearing of his short foray into a more recent past - a time of the Black Death - Evan was glad he had made that call. Dylan had also insisted on a full spectrum antibiotic for Howard, just to be on the safe side.

Once the plane had taxied to its hangar, Evan leaned over and gently shook Howard awake, holding up his hands in a safe gesture when the blue eyes snapped open in fear. Howard reached out and touched him, the fear only leaving his eyes when his fingers met solid flesh.

"Thought I was dreaming."

Evan smiled. "You always dream about me?"

Howard flushed, and Evan no longer needed to wonder if Howard could possibly feel the same love for him. The answer was written across his tired, expressive face.

If there was one thing Evan had learned over these past five years, since it all began with a yellow post-it note on his refrigerator, it was not to waste time. People died, and everything could change with one small venture through an anomaly. He had to seize each moment with both hands, and he did so now, leaning in and kissing Howard. Any remaining tension eased from Howard's body as the kiss deepened, and when they finally parted, Evan looked across the cabin to see Mac, Dylan, and even Leeds smiling, happy for both of them.

***

**Five Months Later:**

The sun was shining brightly when Howard stirred from a restful sleep, woken by the aroma of freshly brewed green tea. He opened his eyes and smiled as the mattress shifted, rolling over to snuggle up against the warm body settling onto the other side of the large bed. Howard slung his arm over his lover's stomach and sighed as strong fingers ruffled his hair affectionately, hearing Evan's soft laugh. He held onto Evan sleepily, listening to the reassuring thud of his heart beating, strong and relaxed. When Evan pushed at him gently but firmly, Howard rolled onto his back, smiling wickedly as Evan followed, rolling on top of him and nuzzling against his cheek as their bodies fitted perfectly, moving against each other in slow, easy thrusts. He slipped his hand between them, wrapping his palm around them both, exalting in the way Evan's breath hitched in pleasure.

Evan moaned as they rocked together, softly gasping as he came, the warmth of his release coating Howard's fingers and easing his own orgasm, a bright line of pleasure that stole his breath momentarily. Evan half-collapsed on top of him and Howard laughed, slapping him half-hearted on the ass until he slid sideways, reaching over to grab a handful of tissues for a clean up before rolling onto his back next to Howard.

"Every day should start like that," Howard sighed happily, only for Evan to snort.

"No. Every ' _other_ ' day should start like that. Tomorrow you can make tea and wake me up with a smile and great sex."

"Deal," Howard murmured happily, body feeling loose and well loved from not just the glorious wake up sex but from the passion of the night before.

Later they would head into Cross Photonics where Howard preferred to work alongside Evan these days rather than home alone. He never wanted to return to those lonely days, deliberately cutting himself off from humanity, paranoid with guilt and grief, and addicted to highly caffeinated drinks and PowerBars. He'd been a mess - crazy even - when Evan stumbled onto his property in search of an anomaly, and found a Triceratops. Although frightening for the most part, Howard's time in the Late Cretaceous had given him the focus he needed to stop living in the past, figuratively speaking, and reach for a better future. 

He'd found that future with Evan, and Evan had let go of his own grief and guilt-stricken past to find a future with him.

For all of Evan's fears, not much had changed between the world Howard had left behind when he stepped into the Cretaceous, and the one he found on his return. His list of patents and inventions was the same. The world held the same politicians as far as he knew though he'd never much cared for politics unless it affected him directly. They had fought across the same court room and judge from where he'd tried to sue Evan for patent infringement and lost. On a personal level he had experienced the same losses and pain in his past, and so had Evan, though both of them grieved more healthily now, supported by each other.

Perhaps time had a way of fixing any major aberrations caused by the anomalies, and any other changes likely went unnoticed unless they impacted directly on someone who'd been outside of the time stream when the change occurred. The theory gave him comfort in some ways because it meant they couldn't do too much damage to the world while on the other side of an anomaly, but it left him fearful too.

Anomalies were still opening both here and in England, and Howard knew from his contacts at the ARC that a storm was coming; a storm that would poison the whole world and leave humanity hiding underground, hunted by future predators more dangerous than any Velociraptor, Dilophosaurus, or Compsognathus. A bleak future only a few years or perhaps even just months away, which he was now convinced he had seen through one of those anomalies. If it couldn't be averted then it would have to be endured or overcome, and Howard was planning accordingly with Evan working alongside him.

They had so much work to do. Yet if his life experiences had taught him anything then it was to hold on tight to the people he loved, especially to Evan, and not waste a single day of the time they had left together.

He considered sitting up and drinking his tea but instead he rolled back over to snuggle up to Evan, head resting on Evan's shoulder, arm slung across his warm body, and he smiled as strong arms wrapped around him in return.

The future could wait a few more hours.

THE END  
 


End file.
